There was the width of a cigarette paper in it. On the far side, a sunrise of a smile had broken out on Kenny Dalglish's face. He was punching the air, convinced Liverpool had pulled level. Andy Carroll had begun his celebration run, pursued by his team-mates. An hour after the game, the striker was still arguing his header had gone over the line.

At least this time, unlike Chelsea's semi-final against Spurs, the officials got it right. It will go down as outstanding goalkeeping from Petr Cech aided and abetted by the eyesight of Andrew Garratt, the assistant referee, who kept his flag down as the ball ricocheted off Cech's glove against the underside of the crossbar, down and out. Garratt, a bank manager from Walsall, got it spot-on and, half an hour later, the Chelsea players were giving Roberto Di Matteo the bumps in the goalmouth.

It is turning out to be one hell of a job application Di Matteo is putting together for Roman Abramovich. The small print says: sacked by West Bromwich Albion, turned down by Birmingham City. The top of the page says: Champions League final and FA Cup victory. All achieved in two months.

Football being football, and Chelsea being Chelsea, there is a good chance Di Matteo might find himself out of work again in the next couple of months. The telephone will soon be ringing, though; we can be sure of that.

What the Italian has done with Chelsea, considering the issues he inherited from André Villas-Boas, is shaping up to be one of the great football stories of recent times.

Those were some desperate moments for his team before that release of emotion on the final whistle when he could be seen running across the pitch in his black suit and polished shoes. For long spells, Liverpool had looked what they are: a team 34 points off the top of the Premier League. Then Carroll came off the bench and a player derided as a £35m misfit transformed the match. Liverpool gave everything during that final half an hour. Except that football, as Dalglish pointed out afterwards, is played over 90 minutes and for 60 of them Chelsea were the better side. "I don't think the first hour was a reflection of the quality of the players we had out there," the manager reflected.

It was a strange match: a slow‑burner, prosaic for the opening hour then bursting out into a nerve‑shredding finale. Thank goodness Liverpool at least roused themselves because, until that point, it was threatening to be a match that never really got going, full of bleak reminders of what this competition has become.

Even ignoring the unorthodox kick‑off time, it was difficult to come away from Wembley feeling invigorated by the experience. Large swaths of the crowd simply ignored Abide With Me. The national anthem did at least stand out, but mostly because of the jeering and whistling from the Liverpool end.

One by one, the great traditions of this competition are being torn up and lobbed in the nearest bin. Dalglish – tracksuit bottoms, football boots, training-ground coat – did not even think it was worthy of a suit, never mind a rosette. And since when, by the way, did this famous old trophy have Budweiser‑sponsored ribbons? At this rate, it cannot be long before even the Royal Box is in conjunction with some beer or another.

There used to be a rule, too, that the sun shone on FA Cup final day. Which might at least have provided Pepe Reina with a semblance of an excuse for losing the trajectory of Ramires's shot for the opening goal.

Reina, in mitigation, was not the only Liverpool player to wave an apologetic hand. Jay Spearing had presented the ball to Juan Mata in the buildup and José Enrique's positioning was poor, at best.

Yet Reina's was the mistake that really counted. The Spaniard has been a goalkeeper of distinction for Liverpool, but he got his angles badly wrong here and it is far from the first time this season. In fact, it is in danger of becoming a recurring habit.

An early goal can usually be expected to open up a game but Liverpool's response was strangely passive. Where Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano once patrolled, here we had Spearing and Jordan Henderson. Put bluntly, this is not a partnership that has the presence and knowhow to control and dictate matches against serious opposition. The first hour pretty much passed Liverpool by and Chelsea were comfortable without really excelling themselves. That was the hardest thing for Dalglish: that Liverpool's opponents did not need to play brilliantly to win.

Carroll came on shortly after Didier Drogba had reinforced his reputation as the ultimate big-game player, with eight Wembley goals in as many appearances.

His goal changed the entire complexion of the game and, suddenly, Chelsea were being pinned back. Carroll did not just grab the match by its collar; he lifted it up by the throat.

Perhaps, though, he should have given Cech no chance when Luis Suárez chipped the ball into his path, in the best move of the match, and forehead connected with leather six yards out.

If Carroll had aimed his header downwards, it would surely have been the equaliser. Or maybe we should just reserve all the praise for Cech and the match officials.

"Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don't," Dalglish said. "If they got it right, I hope they get the credit they deserve."